Book Description
Parents will do almost anything to get their kids to eat healthier, but unfortunately, they've found that begging, pleading, threatening, and bribing don't work. With their patience wearing thin, parents will "give in" for the sake of family peace, and reach for "kiddie" favorites--often nutritionally inferior choices such as fried fish sticks, mac n' cheese, Pop-sicles, and cookies.
Missy Chase Lapine, former publisher of Eating Well magazine, faced the same challenges with her two young daughters, and she sought a solution. Now in The Sneaky Chef, Lapine presents over 75 recipes that ingeniously disguise the most important superfoods inside kids' favorite meals. With the addition of a few simple make-ahead purees or clever replacements, (some may surprise you!) parents can pack more fiber, vitamins, and antioxidants in their kids' foods. Examples of "Sneaky" recipes include:
-No Harm Chicken Parm
-Power Pizza
-Incognito Burritos
-Guerilla Grilled Cheese
-Brainy Brownies
-Health-by-Chocolate Cookies
-Quick fixes for Jell-O(R)
It's a book chock-full of strategies that will help any parent incorporate better health for the whole family.
Customer Reviews:
A great idea!!!!.......2007-10-23
I bought this book after not being able to find Jessica's and am a little amsued at the "controversy" - Jessica's book was the best thing that could've happened to her! Wasn't on the bestsellers list before, was she? Anyway, it's a really good idea and I have used the recipes with great success. I suggest quadrupling the recipes and freezing to speed up the process. She also mentions using jarred baby food in a time crunch, an idea I LOVE- not for use all of the time, of course, but still much better than nothing! She suggests using sprinkles and other things that wouldn't work in our house (the petroleum in the food color makes my son go WILD), but I have enjoyed putting butternut squash and sweet potatoes in our Annie's mac & cheese - my kids LOVE it and I feel much better about it than regular boxed m&c. Wasn't originally going to be a spoiler about the books contents, but the whole talk by the author and her publisher about "investigating" re: potential plagarism made me roll my eyes.
Good starting point.......2007-10-23
This book is a great place to start. I would not use these recipes everyday because they are, in essence, fattening foods (mac n' cheese, pizza, fish sticks...) But I LOVE the purees. I make them in advanced, and pop them in the freezer in a ice cube tray and use them when Im cooking something that will go with it. I still serve fresh steamed veggies and my daughter is pretty good (sometimes) about trying them, but she is still getting her veggies hidden in foods.
Brilliant and workable.......2007-10-21
After reading about both Sneaky Chef and Deceptively Delicious, I went to the bookstore to peruse. Because of Oprah, DD wasn't even available, so I took a chance on Sneaky Chef. Now, my kids do eat on occasion peas and broccoli, but I wanted to be able to boost everything they eat, as there are basically no other veggies they eat. I loved the idea of the different colored purees with more than one component (for instance, the orange puree is sweet potatoes and carrots). I loved that the book gives you the option of making recipes from scratch or doing the "quick and dirty" (such as adding purees to Mac n' cheese from the box). I spent two hours today making purple, white, and orange puree and here's what happened. The kids had spaghetti and ate it all (the sauce was half bottled grocery marinara, half orange puree). Then I made the chocolate cupcakes. I attempted the white icing recipe but it was so gluey that I just did powdered sugar on top with a few sprinkles. My 6 year old son is on his second cupcake, my daughter was too full from spaghetti to finish hers, and I'm on my third. Heck I might eat the whole batch after they go to sleep. They are hardly distinguishable from store cupcake mix except for two things--no weird chemical taste, and there is a little bit more chewiness at the end of each bite (the wheat germ). For the first time ever, my kids had some spinach, blueberries, sweet potatoes, carrots, and a significant amount of wheat germ at dinner and dessert.
I only gave 4/5 stars because I agree with another review that said it would be better if the book was spiral bound (I hate fighting a book trying to close while I'm cooking) and the recipes are hard to find in the index ("Choc-ful cupcakes" instead of just "cupcakes".) Also, the icing was a no go.
All in all, this will likely change the way I cook for and with my kids (they are totally aware I'm doing this--so I'm not actually being that sneaky).
good for adults.......2007-10-21
My boyfriend will not touch vegetables. He even picks chopped basil off of pizza - it is ridiculous. But I love adding veggies when I cook and hadn't figured out a way to make him eat them until now - haha!
The Sneaky Chef.......2007-10-20
I think this is a great book with loads of helpful information. A must have for picky eaters.
Book Description
In Leading Change, John Kotter examines the efforts of more than 100 companies to remake themselves into better competitors. He identifies the most common mistakes leaders and managers make in attempting to create change and offers an eight-step process to overcome the obstacles and carry out the firm's agenda: establishing a greater sense of urgency, creating the guiding coalition, developing a vision and strategy, communicating the change vision, empowering others to act, creating short-term wins, consolidating gains and producing even more change, and institutionalizing new approaches in the future. This highly personal book reveals what John Kotter has seen, heard, experienced, and concluded in 25 years of working with companies to create lasting transformation.
Customer Reviews:
Effectively Managing Change.......2007-08-17
In this book, Kotter methodically and carefully explains his eight-step process for creating major change in business organizations. He notes that the rate of organisational change has been increasing in recent years. The rapid and continual innovation in technology is driving changes to organisational systems and processes. There are also increased expectations of employees as they move more freely between organisations.
Kotter highlights the critical importance of leadership in any change programme. Strong, sustained leadership is crucial to changing deeply rooted corporate cultures and successfully implementing the change process.
John Kotter describes a helpful eight step model for understanding and managing change. Each stage acknowledges a key principle identified by Kotter relating to people's response and approach to change, in which people see, feel and then change.
In spite of the importance and permanence of organisational change, most change initiatives fail to deliver the expected organisational benefits. This book should help those involved in the change process to avoid the pitfalls and follow the eight steps that are explained in detail in the book.
Anyone planning or implementing a change programme will find the book useful, helpful and handy. The author presents the subject in a simple, concise, and easy to follow format.
Wow - thoughtful AND useful.......2007-06-28
Kotter's book is a roadmap of how to introduce a culture change effectively into an organization. Similar to "Good to Great" (Jim Collins), the book is much better organized and thorough.
Amazing!!.......2007-06-26
Have no further words to describe how increrable John Kotter brings in a easy way a subject so complex and important now-a-days. Indeed, it is recommend for all leaders who wants to take right decisions during turbulent times.
Still the definitive work on Change.......2007-06-13
I have been working in the change arena for the last 15 years and Kotter's book on Leading Change is still the definitive work. Based on his seminal 1994 HBR article "Leading Change: Why Transformations efforts fail" this is the best down-to-earth guide for both consultants and managers leading change. It has good practical examples and straightforward arguments - no psychological mumbo jumbo.
Envision, introduce, sustain change. or die........2007-05-09
Kotter gives us here a valuable handbook on how to visualize, introduce, and sustain change in an organization. Here are a few quotes:
"Handling new initiatives quickly is not an essential component of success in relatively stable or cartel-like environments. The problem for us today is that stability is no longer the norm. And most experts agree that over the next few decades the business environment will become only more volatile."
"Useful change tends to be associated with a multistep process that creates power and motivation sufficient to overwhelm all the sources of inertia."
Amazon.com's Best of 2001
Five years ago, Jim Collins asked the question, "Can a good company become a great company and if so, how?" In Good to Great Collins, the author of Built to Last, concludes that it is possible, but finds there are no silver bullets. Collins and his team of researchers began their quest by sorting through a list of 1,435 companies, looking for those that made substantial improvements in their performance over time. They finally settled on 11--including Fannie Mae, Gillette, Walgreens, and Wells Fargo--and discovered common traits that challenged many of the conventional notions of corporate success. Making the transition from good to great doesn't require a high-profile CEO, the latest technology, innovative change management, or even a fine-tuned business strategy. At the heart of those rare and truly great companies was a corporate culture that rigorously found and promoted disciplined people to think and act in a disciplined manner. Peppered with dozens of stories and examples from the great and not so great, the book offers a well-reasoned road map to excellence that any organization would do well to consider. Like Built to Last, Good to Great is one of those books that managers and CEOs will be reading and rereading for years to come. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
Built To Last, the defining management study of the nineties, showed how great companies triumph over time and how long-term sustained performance can be engineered into the DNA of an enterprise from the very beginning.
But what about companies that are not born with great DNA? How can good companies, mediocre companies, even bad companies achieve enduring greatness? Are there those that convert long-term mediocrity or worse into long-term superiority? If so, what are the distinguishing characteristics that cause a company to go from good to great?
Over five years,
Jim Collins and his research team have analyzed the histories of 28 companies, discovering why some companies make the leap and others don't. The findings include:
- Level 5 Leadership: A surprising style, required for greatness.
- The Hedgehog Concept: Finding your three circles, to transcend the curse of competence.
- A Culture of Discipline: The alchemy of great results.
- Technology Accelerators: How good-to-great companies think differently about technology.
- The Flywheel and the Doom Loop: Why those who do frequent restructuring fail to make the leap.
Customer Reviews:
Great.......2007-10-20
Two things I love about this book.
1. It is bang on in terms of the things that matter to a tech startup
2. It is short - half the book is methodology
Thorough analysis with actionable recommendations.......2007-10-20
This book was recommended to me by someone I respect so I didn't do much research before ordering. At first the easy reading style gave me the impression that it had little substance. However, after getting into the book I realized that there was a great deal of substantive research backing up the recommendations. Some of the reviews have indicated a concern that the rules may have changed since the research was conducted. I too had reservations that his research might be a bit dated. However after further reflection and observation of current organizations I would have to firmly disagree. Mr. Collins and his research team have uncovered timeless recommendations that I plan to put into action in my organization. Moreover, my company was listed as one of the "Comparison Companies" not considered "Great" during the time periods analyzed. Fortunately, a lot has changed since the analysis period in the book. We merged with a better company which resulted in a much stronger leadership team and more effective corporate culture.
From Good to Great to Best.......2007-10-19
This well researched book provides the principles to enable good companies to become great. The "first who, then what" concept contradicts the old "What first (Vision, mission, guiding principles, tactics, etc)". Having read Optimal Thinking: How to Be Your Best Self, I am convinced that there is an additional step required to experience organizational optimization - execution based on Optimal Thinking by individuals, teams, departments and the entire organization. When we choose, attract and retain the best, we stop settling for second best (which could be great). I recommend both books.
Greatness Revealed.......2007-10-19
As I was reading this book, I thought numerous times of how wonderful it would be if I was working at a company that was trying to transform itself from good to great. The reality, however, is that most people don't work at great companies. Instead, most of us work at mediocre companies fighting to stay alive in today's competitive business world, unsure as to the one thing the business could do better than anyone else.
This book is thoroughly researched and thought provoking. The ideas are timeless and, if followed, I am convinced that the results would speak for themselves. The eleven or so companies used as model companies in the book that changed from good to great are still thriving today, six years after the book was published, and the employees engaged in the work love it, I am sure. And who wouldn't? Working with a company determined to be successful would be exciting, if not challenging. I only wish I could bring up some of the practices described in detail in this book to those leaders of my current company. Until changes are made, its greatness will forever be on hold.
Outstanding Book.......2007-10-18
This is an outstanding book that is very interesting and fascinating reading. The fact that the book is based on five-years of research makes the research findings and conclusions credible and believable. This book answers a fundamental question: "Can a good company become a great company?" I also enjoyed the case studies inside it which greatly reinforced the author's message.
I especially enjoyed the topics on hiring (having the right people on the bus and on the right seats and the wrong people off the bus) and the Hedgehog Concept. The Hedgehog Concept basically says that if you can't be the best in the world at your core business, then it can't be the basis of a great company. You need to have a deep understanding and incredible simplicity. You need Big Hairy Audacious Goals (BHAGs) sitting in the middle of your three circles. Another interesting finding is on leaders that drive great companies. Jim Collins identifies the Level 5 Leadership who typically is self-effacing, quiet, reserved, shy and have a blend of personal humility and professional will. They are ambitious for the company and what it stands for and do not seek personal glory or self-aggrandisement.
From the middle manager to the CEO, anyone involved in business management can find valuable leadership and business strategy tips, ideas and advice from this seminal work. Students or business persons seeking to truly understand what it takes to be a successful leader must read this book. The book teaches how even individuals can make the leap to outperform the market or the current market leaders. If you don't have time to read, get the audio book and listen. Jim Collins is extremely lively, interesting and easy to listen to.
One possible weakness is that the study and its conclusions could be dated. The rate of change in the business world is so rapid in the past 5 or so years that it is quite possible that there could be a shift on what makes good companies great. So the argument by Jim Collins that he has uncovered basic facts about human organizations that will be unchanging may ultimately prove not to be totally correct.
In case you have not yet done so, I recommend that you also read Jim Collins' other classic "Built to Last" which he authored with Jerry Porras.
Amazon.com
IDEO, the world's leading design firm, is the brain trust that's behind some of the more brilliant innovations of the past 20 years--from the Apple mouse, the Polaroid i-Zone instant camera, and the Palm V to the "fat" toothbrush for kids and a self-sealing water bottle for dirt bikers. Not surprisingly, companies all over the world have long wondered what they could learn from IDEO, to come up with better ideas for their own products, services, and operations. In this terrific book from IDEO general manager Tom Kelley (brother of founder David Kelley), IDEO finally delivers--but thankfully not in the step-by-step, flow-chart-filled "process speak" of most how-you-can-do-what-we-do business books. Sure, there are some good bulleted lists to be found here--such as the secrets of successful brainstorming, the qualities of "hot teams," and, toward the end, 10 key ingredients for "How to Create Great Products and Services," including "One Click Is Better Than Two" (the simpler, the better) and "Goof Proof" (no bugs).
But The Art of Innovation really teaches indirectly (not to mention enlightens and entertains) by telling great stories--mainly, of how the best ideas for creating or improving products or processes come not from laboriously organized focus groups, but from keen observations of how regular people work and play on a daily basis. On nearly every page, we learn the backstories of some now-well-established consumer goods, from recent inventions like the Palm Pilot and the in-car beverage holder to things we nearly take for granted--like Ivory soap (created when a P&G worker went to lunch without turning off his soap mixer, and returned to discover his batch overwhipped into 99.44 percent buoyancy) and Kleenex, which transcended its original purpose as a cosmetics remover when people started using the soft paper to wipe and blow their noses. Best of all, Kelley opens wide the doors to IDEO's vibrant, sometimes wacky office environment, and takes us on a vivid tour of how staffers tackle a design challenge: they start not with their ideas of what a new product should offer, but with the existing gaps of need, convenience, and pleasure with which people live on a daily basis, and that IDEO should fill. (Hence, a one-piece children's fishing rod that spares fathers the embarrassment of not knowing how to teach their kids to fish, or Crest toothpaste tubes that don't "gunk up" at the mouth.)
Granted, some of their ideas--like the crucial process of "prototyping," or incorporating dummy drafts of the actual product into the planning, to work out bugs as you go--lend themselves more easily to the making of actual things than to the more common organizational challenge of streamlining services or operations. But, if this big book of bright ideas doesn't get you thinking of how to build a better mousetrap for everything from your whole business process to your personal filing system, you probably deserve to be stuck with the mousetrap you already have. --Timothy Murphy
Book Description
IDEO, the widely admired, award-winning design and development firm that brought the world the Apple mouse, Polaroid's I-Zone instant camera, the Palm V, and hundreds of other cutting-edge products and services, reveals its secrets for fostering a culture and process of continuous innovation.
There isn't a business in America that doesn't want to be more creative in its thinking, products, and processes. At many companies, being first with a concept and first to market are critical just to survive. In
The Art of Innovation, Tom Kelley, general manager of the Silicon Valley based design firm IDEO, takes readers behind the scenes of this wildly imaginative and energized company to reveal the strategies and secrets it uses to turn out hit after hit.
IDEO doesn't buy into the myth of the lone genius working away in isolation, waiting for great ideas to strike. Kelley believes everyone can be creative, and the goal at his firm is to tap into that wellspring of creativity in order to make innovation a way of life. How does it do that? IDEO fosters an atmosphere conducive to freely expressing ideas, breaking the rules, and freeing people to design their own work environments. IDEO's focus on teamwork generates countless breakthroughs, fueled by the constant give-and-take among people ready to share ideas and reap the benefits of the group process. IDEO has created an intense, quick-turnaround, brainstorm-and-build process dubbed "the Deep Dive."
In entertaining anecdotes, Kelley illustrates some of his firm's own successes (and joyful failures), as well as pioneering efforts at other leading companies. The book reveals how teams research and immerse themselves in every possible aspect of a new product or service, examining it from the perspective of clients, consumers, and other critical audiences.
Kelley takes the reader through the IDEO problem-solving method:
>Carefully observing the behavior or "anthropology" of the people who will be using a product or service
>Brainstorming with high-energy sessions focused on tangible results
>Quickly prototyping ideas and designs at every step of the way
>Cross-pollinating to find solutions from other fields
>Taking risks, and failing your way to success
>Building a "Greenhouse" for innovation
IDEO has won more awards in the last ten years than any other firm of its kind, and a full half-hour Nightline presentation of its creative process received one of the show's highest ratings.
The Art of Innovation will provide business leaders with the insights and tools they need to make their companies the leading-edge, top-rated stars of their industries.
Customer Reviews:
Kudos to Ideos.......2007-08-28
Excellent book with good insights. If you are in the business of innovation, this is one book that you shouldn't miss. I also recommend EIGHTSTORM: 8-Step Brainstorming for Innovative Managers.
Innovation for All.......2007-06-29
Through anecdotes, Kelley demonstrates how stumbling blocks to innovation can be overcome. He shows an appreciation for experimentation, momentum, and embraces failure as a true path to knowing. Failed prototypes are wonderful learning tools. Kelley's perspective keeps spirits high. He leaves much of the innovative process open ended - nearly encouraging innovation on innovating.
Interestingly, Kelley notes how medicine is becoming personalized and that the future can not be perfectly predicted. Still, he says we must aim at it. This was an important nugget of wisdom for me, a research coordinator at a think-tank-like public health research group, the Healthcare Innovation and Technology lab at Columbia University. On a daily basis we deal with innovation to improve healthcare and need to effectively innovate. Given that we tread a very specific territory - health and technology - and that Kelley's book could be so useful to us, it is obvious that he really has something to offer to everyone.
Innovation and creativity "how-to" guide.......2007-06-07
The Art of Innovation explains many of IDEO's creative techniques and in so doing paints a picture of the physical context in which all that creativity occurs, namely IDEO's office, your average geek's idea of paradise brimming with high-tech prototypes, foam cubes, "tech box" caddies with giant Post-Its and coloring pens ... and yes, it does look more like a playschool than Dilbertesque gray cubicle-land. Teamwork, friendship and a shared passion for helping clients innovate is clearly what binds people together and stimulates their creativity, while a supportive and forgiving management structure doesn't just tolerate weirdness, it actively encourages it. IDEO seems to have taken Tom Peters' advice "If you want to do weird, hire weird people" to the next level. In IDEO-land, "normal" people would probably stand out a mile.
Two creative techniques - brainstorming and prototyping - are particularly well described, in a way that encourages the reader to try something different. I've learnt some new tricks and even started applying them since reading the book.
El arte de innovar estilo IDEO.......2007-06-01
IDEO ha hecho de la innovación un arte, el cual es un proceso sistematizado, con pasos muy definidos, congruentes y faciles de llevar por las personas que conforman dentro sus empresas los equipos de innovacion y diseño.
Skip it and go right to 10 Faces.......2007-03-19
I recently read both this book and the Ten Faces of Innovation. My recomendation is to skip this book. It is written more like an advertisement for IDEO and was left feeling like Tom has crossed the line into arrogance. If you read it as a stand alone book there is a lot of useful information. However most of the concepts are covered in Ten Faces. If you have time read both books but if time is of the essence then jump right into the Ten Faces, you won't be disappointed.
Amazon.com
Sometime during the last 30 years, the service economy emerged as the dominant engine of economic activity. At first, critics who were uncomfortable with the intangible nature of services bemoaned the decline of the goods-based economy, which, thanks to many factors, had increasingly become commoditized. Successful companies, such as Nordstrom, Starbucks, Saturn, and IBM, discovered that the best way to differentiate one product from another--clothes, food, cars, computers--was to add service.
But, according to Joseph Pine and James Gilmore, the bar of economic offerings is being raised again. In The Experience Economy, the authors argue that the service economy is about to be superseded with something that critics will find even more ephemeral (and controversial) than services ever were: experiences. In part because of technology and the increasing expectations of consumers, services today are starting to look like commodities. The authors write that "Those businesses that relegate themselves to the diminishing world of goods and services will be rendered irrelevant. To avoid this fate, you must learn to stage a rich, compelling experience."
Many will find the idea of staging experiences as a requirement for business survival far-fetched. However, the authors make a compelling case, and consider successful companies that are already packaging their offerings as experiences, from Disney to AOL. Far-reaching and thought-provoking, The Experience Economy is for marketing professionals and anyone looking to gain a fresh perspective on what business landscape might look like in the years to come. Recommended. --Harry C. Edwards
Book Description
You are what you charge for. And if you're competing solely on the basis of price, then you've been commoditized, offering little or no true differentiation. What would your customers really value? Better yet, for what would they pay a premium? Experiences. The curtain is about to rise, say Pine & Gilmore, on the Experience Economy, a new economic era in which every business is a stage, and companies must design memorable events for which they charge admission. With
The Experience Economy, Pine & Gilmore explore how successful companies-using goods as props and services as the stage-create experiences that engage customers in an inherently personal way. Why does a cup of coffee cost more at a trendy cafe than it does at the corner diner or when brewed at home? It's the value that the experience holds for the individual that determines the worth of the offering and the work of the business. From online communities to airport parking, the authors draw from a rich and varied mix of examples that showcase businesses in the midst of creating engaging experiences for both consumers and corporate customers.
The Experience Economy marks the debut of an insightful, highly original, and yet eminently practical approach for companies to script and stage compelling experiences. In doing so, all workers become actors, intentionally creating specific effects for their customers. And it's the experiences they stage that create memorable-and lasting-impressions that ultimately create transformations within individuals. Make no mistake, say Pine & Gilmore: goods and services are no longer enough. Experiences are the foundation for future economic growth, and
The Experience Economy is the playbook from which managers can begin to direct new performances.
Download Description
Future economic growth lies in the value of experiences and transformations--good and services are no longer enough. We are on the threshold, say authors Pine and Gilmore, of the Experience Economy, a new economic era in which all businesses must orchestrate memorable events for their customers. The Experience Economy offers a creative, highly original, and yet eminently practical strategy for companies to script and stage the experiences that will transform the value of what they produce. From America Online to Walt Disney, the authors draw from a rich and varied mix of examples that showcase businesses in the midst of creating personal experiences for both consumers and businesses. The authors urge managers to look beyond traditional pricing factors like time and cost, and consider charging for the value of the transformation that an experience offers. Goods and services, say Pine and Gilmore, are no longer enough. Experiences and transformations are the basis for future economic growth, and The Experience Economy is the script from which managers can begin to direct their own transformations.
Customer Reviews:
excellent service.......2007-09-09
This was fast and accurate, and the quality was just what was advertised. Thank you!
too much 'flowers' in conveying the message.......2007-06-20
When I bought this book, I hoped Mr Pine will more describe about the ultimate power of new era, the experience economy, and how that change should be adapted quickly for many variety industries settings to get survive. Meaning, I expect to find a practical guidance to overcome the battle.
I found many ideas poured into this book mostly already existed in some other books (not written by Joseph Pine, for sure), for instance putting the experience as value added in consumer goods to increase consumers' emotional benefits. In doing so, the manufacturer can have premium price to outdo the competition. I've heard of it as many as the idea of how to serve consumers in a new different way by using internet as interactive tool to preserve their satisfactions and to use it as new channel of distribution. I really hope he came up with new striking and distinctive ideas, not those hackneyed ones.
I somewhat think this book a little bit hard to understand. Mr Pine used and picked up some unusual vocabularies to convey his message. I always fall asleep everytime reading it. Surprising that it takes me a week to consume 2-3 pages whilst I spend a week to finish Harry Potter - Goblet of Fire in English version.
However, I thank to Joseph for inspiring me some new vocabs.
Top Notch.......2007-06-01
Rarely do we get a truly new model to work with. This book provides a genuine breakthrough in how our life experience can be designed.
Used for Designers.......2007-03-30
I am a college instructor in Web and Interactive design and development. I have used this book and the audio version as the cornerstone of my opening lectures each semester. All the concepts and tenents put forward apply to user Interface design that I use this book as part of my UX-User Experience driven courses. Understanding how we got here and having an idea of where we are going allows tommorrow's designers to create "experiences" today.
This should be on every design students required reading list....
New Views of the Tried and the True.......2007-01-29
'Sell the sizzle and not the steak' was originated by legendary salesman and motivational speaker Elmer Wheeler way back in the 1930s and brought up to date with current examples of what companies have done to create an 'experience' is the theme of this book. Is the content new? Well, YES! And Well, NO!
I went out to dinner Friday night. I met with friends at a local restaurant, we had a couple of drinks in the lounge and then moved into the restaurant for dinner. I had a steak, just like in the phrase. It was no better than the steak I could have bought at the local supermarket for a third or less of the cost. It wasn't prepared any better than I can do on my grill. But the experience of ending the work week with friends, drink, good food made it worth the money that I spent.
In recent years this has been termed good service. And it is. But it's more than that, it was a nice evening, a good experience.
This book uses theatre terminology and stories from various companies to explain and illustrate how to take almost any business and convert it to 'experience' orientation rather than just providing a product or service.
Is it new and different, YES! But it is based on the tried and true.
Amazon.com
This analysis of what makes great companies great has been hailed everywhere as an instant classic and one of the best business titles since In Search of Excellence. The authors, James C. Collins and Jerry I. Porras, spent six years in research, and they freely admit that their own preconceptions about business success were devastated by their actual findings--along with the preconceptions of virtually everyone else.
Built to Last identifies 18 "visionary" companies and sets out to determine what's special about them. To get on the list, a company had to be world famous, have a stellar brand image, and be at least 50 years old. We're talking about companies that even a layperson knows to be, well, different: the Disneys, the Wal-Marts, the Mercks.
Whatever the key to the success of these companies, the key to the success of this book is that the authors don't waste time comparing them to business failures. Instead, they use a control group of "successful-but-second-rank" companies to highlight what's special about their 18 "visionary" picks. Thus Disney is compared to Columbia Pictures, Ford to GM, Hewlett Packard to Texas Instruments, and so on.
The core myth, according to the authors, is that visionary companies must start with a great product and be pushed into the future by charismatic leaders. There are examples of that pattern, they admit: Johnson & Johnson, for one. But there are also just too many counterexamples--in fact, the majority of the "visionary" companies, including giants like 3M, Sony, and TI, don't fit the model. They were characterized by total lack of an initial business plan or key idea and by remarkably self-effacing leaders. Collins and Porras are much more impressed with something else they shared: an almost cult-like devotion to a "core ideology" or identity, and active indoctrination of employees into "ideologically commitment" to the company.
The comparison with the business "B"-team does tend to raise a significant methodological problem: which companies are to be counted as "visionary" in the first place? There's an air of circularity here, as if you achieve "visionary" status by ... achieving visionary status. So many roads lead to Rome that the book is less practical than it might appear. But that's exactly the point of an eloquent chapter on 3M. This wildly successful company had no master plan, little structure, and no prima donnas. Instead it had an atmosphere in which bright people were both keen to see the company succeed and unafraid to "try a lot of stuff and keep what works." --Richard Farr
Book Description
"This is not a book about charismatic visionary leaders. It is not about visionary product concepts or visionary products or visionary market insights. Nor is it about just having a corporate vision. This is a book about something far more important, enduring, and substantial. This is a book about visionary companies." So write Jim Collins and Jerry Porras in this groundbreaking book that shatters myths, provides new insights, and gives practical guidance to those who would like to build landmark companies that stand the test of time.
Drawing upon a six-year research project at the Stanford University Graduate School of Business, Collins and Porras took eighteen truly exceptional and long-lasting companies -- they have an average age of nearly one hundred years and have outperformed the general stock market by a factor of fifteen since 1926 -- and studied each company in direct comparison to one of its top competitors. They examined the companies from their very beginnings to the present day -- as start-ups, as midsize companies, and as large corporations. Throughout, the authors asked: "What makes the truly exceptional companies different from other companies?"
What separates General Electric, 3M, Merck, Wal-Mart, Hewlett-Packard, Walt Disney, and Philip Morris from their rivals? How, for example, did Procter & Gamble, which began life substantially behind rival Colgate, eventually prevail as the premier institution in its industry? How was Motorola able to move from a humble battery repair business into integrated circuits and cellular communications, while Zenith never became dominant in anything other than TVs? How did Boeing unseat McDonnell Douglas as the world's best commercial aircraft company -- what did Boeing have that McDonnell Douglas lacked?
By answering such questions, Collins and Porras go beyond the incessant barrage of management buzzwords and fads of the day to discover timeless qualities that have consistently distinguished out-standing companies. They also provide inspiration to all executives and entrepreneurs by destroying the false but widely accepted idea that only charismatic visionary leaders can build visionary companies.
Filled with hundreds of specific examples and organized into a coherent framework of practical concepts that can be applied by managers and entrepreneurs at all levels,
Built to Last provides a master blueprint for building organizations that will prosper long into the twenty-first century and beyond.
Customer Reviews:
A Classic.......2007-10-16
"Built to Last" is an enlightening and interesting classic on business strategic management. The authors, Jim Collins and Jerry Porras spent six years in research and compared the practices of 18 visionary companies in the USA to those of a matched set of good, though not great, companies. Their fundamental observation is that average companies are driven by the power of "or:" You can have either short term profits OR long term growth, either stability OR progress. Visionary companies, in contrast, embrace the power of "and:" You preserve the core AND stimulate progress.
The authors then methodically, step-by-step proceed to explain how great companies erect structures that embrace these seemingly contradictory goals. The great companies the authors studied, contrary to conventional wisdom, are not profit focused at their core but rather, they are `value' focused. These values are a sort of nucleus, around which leaders in visionary companies grow the company. This was the case in such great companies as Disney, Wal-Mart, Merck, Ford, Hewlett Packard, 3M, Johnson and Johnson and others.
Among the core myths that Collins and Porras shattered are that visionary companies must start with a great product and be pushed into the future by charismatic leaders. Instead the great visionary companies they studied were characterized by total lack of an initial business plan or key idea and by remarkably self-effacing leaders. The authors are much more impressed with the great companies' almost cult-like devotion to a "core ideology" or identity, and active indoctrination of employees into "ideological commitment" to the company.
The book is interesting to read, is humorous, is among the best, easiest to follow guide to strategic management. The book also provides guidelines to help managers at all levels to apply the concepts. It is well written with compelling case studies. I highly recommend the book to those looking for a practical down-to-earth book that is readable and useful.
Identity is Built to Last.......2007-08-30
It is interesting to review a business book more than 10 years after it has been labeled a best seller - is it still relevant today? Yes, in the case of this classic! The lessons conveyed are as useful today, as they were when it was first published. No surprise, given what the authors set out to discover when they began their research: What distinguishes long-time, high performing companies from their competitors? Their key concept about what it takes to build a visionary company - "preserve the core and stimulate progress" seems to be a fundamental truth about the evolutionary nature of free markets. Certainly their, "Try Lots of Stuff and Keep What Works" and "Good Enough Never Is", lessons sound like evolutionary processes of adaptation.
The key concept might be more simply described by saying, "Maintain your identity - core values & purpose - while focusing on a living performance vision." That makes it a personal concept as well as an organizational concept - not a bad thing when you consider that any organization is a collection of people. When something makes sense for the individual and the organization, perhaps there-in resides the reason it is a long-term winner! Dennis DeWilde, Author of The Performance Connection
Built to last.......2007-08-10
This is the most relevant, well-presented, easy-to-read research project I've seen. The data is easily transferable to to practical use. I have seen its implementation make a really big positive difference in groups within organizations.
Must-read for anyone interested in business.......2007-04-13
This book is the result of an elaborative research and a great data-analysis. It gives an insight into the some of the greatest companies of the world in different fields and different time-periods.
Authors have done a great job in explaining and justifying their research and data through the appendices and bibliography. A study of all the existing companies to find the visionary ones is really a daunting task and this research team has done a terrific job in establishing a definition of a "visionary company".
Must-read for professionals at any level of the organization hierarchy!!!
Great insight.......2007-03-30
Both Built to Last and Good to Great are the best business books anyone can ever read. Nice work!
Average customer rating:
- Not a Project Management Guide
- real world pm
- project management with your feet on the ground and your heart on it
- highly practical and thorough coverage
- Great book
|
The Art of Project Management (Theory in Practice (O'Reilly))
Scott Berkun
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ASIN: 0596007868 |
Book Description
The Art of Project Management covers it all--from practical methods for making sure work gets done right and on time, to the mindset that can make you a great leader motivating your team to do their best. Reading this was like reading the blueprint for how the best projects are managed at Microsoft... I wish we always put these lessons into action!" --Joe Belfiore, General Manager, E-home Division, Microsoft Corporation
"Berkun has written a fast paced, jargon-free and witty guide to what he wisely refers to as the 'art' of project management. It's a great introduction to the discipline. Seasoned and new managers will benefit from Berkun's perspectives." --Joe Mirza, Director, CNET Networks (Cnet.com)
"Most books with the words 'project management' in the title are dry tomes. If that's what you are expecting to hear from Berkun's book, you will be pleasantly surprised. Sure, it's about project management. But it's also about creativity, situational problem-solving, and leadership. If you're a team member, project manager, or even a non-technical stakeholder, Scott offers dozens of practical tools and techniques you can use, and questions you can ask, to ensure your projects succeed." --Bill Bliss, Senior VP of product and customer experience, expedia.com
In The Art of Project Management, you'll learn from a veteran manager of software and web development how to plan, manage, and lead projects. This personal account of hard lessons learned over a decade of work in the industry distills complex concepts and challenges into practical nuggets of useful advice. Inspiring, funny, honest, and compelling, this is the book you and your team need to have within arms reach. It will serve you well with your current work, and on future projects to come.
Topics include:
- How to make things happen
- Making good decisions
- Specifications and requirements
- Ideas and what to do with them
- How not to annoy people
- Leadership and trust
- The truth about making dates
- What to do when things go wrong
Customer Reviews:
Not a Project Management Guide.......2007-10-14
I guess I expected more after reading some of the reviews, but was disappointed to find out that it is a high level project management supplemental book. If you are a beginning PMer looking for a good book about the fundamentals of PM, this is not the book. The level of the content is for those who simply want a book that is more a novel than a help book.
real world pm.......2007-06-29
An easy and fun to read book, based on real life examples and experiences. While reading it, I got many tips from the book and apply them in my onw work.
project management with your feet on the ground and your heart on it.......2007-05-24
I really love this book!! I've read many books about how to run projects, to keep teams motivated, to be an effective leader, and I think this book compiles all of the above, plus it gives you a grounded point of view. There are no promises, only hard work and ways to improve your performance.
I've used some of the recommendations included in chapter 13: How to make things happen and, although is not a guarantee of success, I have accomplished some of my most difficult projects with it and the ones I didn't, at least I know why.
[...].
highly practical and thorough coverage.......2007-05-12
Reading this book is almost as good as having a highly experienced mentor help you manage a project. The book provides very thorough coverage with sound, practical advice. There is a good list of reference material as well. I have been a software developer for more than 25 years and have managed several projects and still found I learned a lot from this book. I wish it had been available years ago. The book also provided confirmation for many of my beliefs about which I disagree with my current project manager. I hope to use this book to help convince him to change. I will be managing my own project again soon and plan to use use this book to help me succeed. Every software developer should read this book even if they are not a project manager. My only very slight criticism is that the book is most helpful to software product projects, but I think even internal development projects should be run as this book explains.
Great book.......2007-05-09
This is a great book.
Filled with real-world wisdom, it prepares you for what to expect in the world of project management as a career option.
Especially usefull for people from software development background.
Average customer rating:
- The INDISPENSIBLE history of building a business from one store with zero sales to a $100 BILLION company.
- Home Depot provides a horrible experience
- I'm rich. I started a company. I wrote a book.
- Full of Lies
- A great story...
|
Built from Scratch: How a Couple of Regular Guys Grew The Home Depot from Nothing to $30 Billion
Bernie Marcus ,
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Bob Andelman
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ASIN: 0812930584
Release Date: 1999-04-27 |
Amazon.com
Built from Scratch is about two businessmen who achieve the American Dream by fundamentally changing the realm of home-improvement retailing. Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank, cofounders of the Home Depot, explain how they established the first national chain in the industry by concentrating on low prices, customer service, and strong leadership values.
Ultimately, this is a book about grit and determination. "Building the Home Depot was a tough, uphill battle from the day we started," they write. "No one believed we could do it and very few people trusted our judgment." The two cofounders launched the company only after they were fired by a California hardware retailer because of politics. The Home Depot lost $1 million in its first year of operation in Atlanta. Today it's one of the great successes on Wall Street, with more than 700 stores across the country and 160,000 employees.
One reason the book is so engaging is that it includes corporate anecdotes. A favorite: the company banned wild parties after several employees were demoted and a couple were fired in the wake of a drunken annual managers' meeting. Another yarn involves Sears, which made one of the worst financial mistakes in retailing history when it passed on a deal to purchase Home Depot in the early 1980s. The authors are self-serving at times; for example, they whine too much about paying $104.5 million to dispose of a sex-discrimination lawsuit. But there's no denying the smashing performance of Big Orange. Marcus and Blank paint a story with some sparkling advice for practically anyone in business. --Dan Ring
Book Description
One of the greatest entrepreneurial success stories of the past twenty years
When a friend told Bernie Marcus and Arthur Blank that "you've just been hit in the ass by a golden horseshoe," they thought he was crazy. After all, both had just been fired. What the friend, Ken Langone, meant was that they now had the opportunity to create the kind of wide-open warehouse store that would help spark a consumer revolution through low prices, excellent customer service, and wide availability of products.
Built from Scratch is the story of how two incredibly determined and creative people--and their associates--built a business from nothing to 761 stores and $30 billion in sales in a mere twenty years.
Built from Scratch tells many colorful stories associated with The Home Depot's founding and meteoric rise; shows that a company can be a tough, growth-oriented competitor and still maintain a high sense of responsibility to the community; and provides great lessons useful to people in any business, from start-ups to the Fortune 500.
Great Stories
"Ming the Merciless": The inside account of the man who fired Arthur Blank and Bernie Marcus
"My people don't drive Cadillacs!" How Ross Perot almost got involved with The Home Depot
"Take this job and shove it!" The banker who put his career on the line to get The Home Depot the loan that enabled it to survive
"Folks, I tell ya, if these Atlanta stores were any bigger, we'd be paying Alabama sales tax." Home Depot's first good ol' southern advertising campaign
A Company with a Conscience
When disasters like the Oklahoma City bombing or Hurricane Andrew happen, Home Depot associates don't ask for permission to respond. They react from their hearts--whether that means keeping their store open all night or being on the scene with volunteers and relief supplies.
The Home Depot doesn't just contribute money to organizations like Habitat for Humanity and Christmas in April, but also provides its people to help lead and grow these community efforts.
Great Lessons
Know your customer: In The Home Depot's case, customers don't pay for wider aisles and a pretty store, but for a wide assortment and low prices
Why everyday low prices mean more sales overall: The marketing philosophy The Home Depot learned from talking with Sam Walton
Market leadership: Why The Home Depot never goes to a major new market with plans to open just a few stores
The strategy for profitable growth: How The Home Depot redefined its U.S. market from its $135 billion traditional "do-it-yourself" base to a much larger pond of $365 billion
How to change the rules of the game: How The Home Depot bypassed almost all middlemen, allowing it to pass on huge savings to customers
Built from Scratch is the firsthand account of how two regular guys created one of the greatest entrepreneurial successes of the last twenty years.
Opening the First Store
"What the hell happened? Who screwed up the store? . . . Whatever time remained before the doors were scheduled to open for the first time, we sped around in forklifts, stomping on the brakes, scuffing up the flooring so it would once more look like a warehouse."
Customer Service
"If ever I saw an associate point a customer toward what they needed three aisles over, I would threaten to bite their finger. I would say, 'Don't ever let me see you point. You take the customer by the hand, and you bring them right where they need to be and you help them.'"
Giving Back
"When The Home Depot went public we realized that we had the financial capacity and wherewithal to give back to the communities where we did business. There is a concept in Judaism called tzedaka, which means 'to give back.' It is considered a mitzvah, a good deed, to give to someone who doesn't have, and we believe strongly in giving back to the community."
Selling the Vision
"We had to be psychologists, lovers, romancers, and con artists to get vendors aboard. Our ability to paint a picture of how that would take place--lowest prices, widest selection, and great customer service--was what convinced skeptical manufacturers to sell merchandise to us during the early years."
The Importance of Values
"I have never had anybody work for me in retailing who didn't work for me out of love, as opposed to fear. We carried this approach into building The Home Depot. We care about each other and we care about the customer. The things that we do for customers inside and outside the stores demonstrate our commitment to them. And then when something happens within the company, we circle the wagons. We help each other."
Customer Reviews:
The INDISPENSIBLE history of building a business from one store with zero sales to a $100 BILLION company. .......2007-01-18
It never ceases to amaze me in what it takes to satisfy a reader. When I read a book like this, I am basically asking myself several questions. How on earth did these guys do it? How did they come through the funnel and get it done. What was at stake? What were the major premises of the concept? Could it have failed, if so how? How close did it come to failing? Could some one else have done this, or replicated it, or perhaps have done it better.
A lot of life is pure fantasy. You have your own template of how things works, and you look at the world and you see that template everywhere. If you go out and try to apply this system and superimpose it onto the real world, it either fails or it succeeds. Sometimes the template is a good one, but the execution gets screwed up.
When I look at Home Depot, a story that I have an intimacy with, I found this particular book to be fabulous. There is nothing boring about it; in fact I found every page worthwhile. Having spent 35 years in Wall Street running money, and figuring out how does a company make a buck, I found this book even more worthwhile. If you are involved in the investment business, this becomes a particularly worthwhile read.
If you run a company or have aspirations towards a career in management, you better read this book, because there is something in it for everyone. For most of us, there is more than one thing in it. Peter Drucker the ultimate management mind of the 20th century probably said it best when he talked about the corporation as a living, breathing organism that required nourishment on a daily basis. You just can't assume that corporations will continue to exist simply because they exist now.
Every day a company fights for its corporate life, for its right to continue to exist. Those corporate entities that assume that they will always be around - NEVER LAST. Other entities out there either eat them up, or they suffer the slow final death of arrogance, and go out of business without even knowing why they went out.
Home Depot is the story of two guys that got up in the morning every morning, fighting for the right to keep doing it a better way. They lived by the credo that you have to keep moving or they will throw dirt on you. Some of the lessons and ideas you will learn from this book include the following:
· CUSTOMER SERVICE - You have to take care of good people, and constantly be on the lookout for them. If necessary hire them, even when you don't have the jobs for them because you may not get a second shot at them.
· DOING THE RIGHT THING ALL THE TIME - It can cost you money doing the right thing, but it comes back in spades. Something else happens when you do the right thing. People realize your efforts, and some will take advantage of you, but that will be more than offset by the multitude of others who will become loyal customers for life.
· NOBODY LOVES A COMPANY- They may love what you do, and what you do for them as customers, but there is no real loyalty to companies, at least in this generation. Home Depot always tried to make as many of their employees stockholders as possible, so that they could align the employee (associates at HD) goals with the corporate goals.
· THIS IS A TOUGH PLACE TO WORK IF YOU ARE INFLEXIBLE - This lesson was lost on the current Chairman, CEO Nardelli who was fired by the Board for his IMPERIAL management style. He also possessed no understanding of the Home Depot culture as he tried to superimpose his General Electric template on the company. He failed miserably but that's another book.
· IF YOU CAN SAVE THE CUSTOMER MONEY, DO IT - Always do the right thing by the customer, and you will have a customer for life. Go the extra mile for the customer. CULTIVATE the customer.
· THE FOUNDERS WERE LIVING ON THE FUMES OF DREAMS - I loved these stories. These guys Marcus and Blank were honest about what they faced, and several times this company was touching or facing bankruptcy. This is an important lesson. The way around it is to have twice as much capital as you think you need. This by itself was worth reading the entire book. This is priceless knowledge.
· IT'S ABOUT PRICE, SELECTION, AND CUSTOMER SERVICE - Never lose sight of this statement and act on it in your own business goals. Give people the best price you can, and the finest selection of merchandise. If you back it up with the industry's best customer service you have found for yourself a business model for success. It may sound simple, but try executing on it.
So let me let you in on a secret. I spent years with Bear Stearns well over 20 years ago as a limited partner. When I read the early financial stories of Home Depot on Wall Street, I knew that what the founders in this book were saying was the complete unvarnished truth.
The story of how Ross Perot, one of America's wealthiest men in the early 1980's blew having dominant control of this company is now the stuff of myths. Nevertheless it's a true story. The founders ultimately turned down Ross Perot as a shareholder. They believe Perot to be a control freak. Yes, Perot didn't want the founders driving around in a Cadillac. Perot was a Chevy man. Well, the Chevy man blew a $60 billion dollar fortune by not investing a couple of million in Home Depot.
Then there's Ken Langone, the financial guy behind this phenomenal story. Langone may be the only guy in America to be the IPO maven behind two all time American success stories. He successfully brought public both Ross Perot's EDS, and the Home Depot. Who else can say that? He also made a billion dollars in the process. Langone is a unique, fabulous, walk to the well with you kind of guy. Among Wall Street types, he is unique, and the Street needs many more like him.
There is a story in the book where Langone is involved in a stock sale to a very nasty executive who is very prominent in his own right. Every time the executive refuses to give in to Langone's price, Langone just keeps upping the ante on him. This goes on for pages. It is uproariously funny, and is deserving of retelling over and over again. You will love this book, and learn an enormous amount about business in the process. It should probably be required reading for all MBA programs in management.
If you have any desire to understand what it takes to dedicate your entire life to building something, especially in the business world than this book is a read for you. There's one more thing that I must get across that is compelling. Having spent my life involved with companies like Home Depot, and high-powered successful people, I have come to the conclusion that it does not have to work out successfully.
There is no such thing as one must succeed, or it was ordained that this must happen. As an example Home Depot could have gone out of business a half dozen times before becoming so financially solvent that the business model had to work.
Steve Jobs at Apple could have decided 20 years ago, to license that Apple operating system to the PC industry, and Gates and Microsoft would never have happened. GM could have decided to build quality cars 25 years ago, instead of building [...]for decades while the Japanese took the market away.
Al Gore could have concentrated just a little bit more on Florida in 2000, and George W. Bush would have never been. John Kerry could have fought off the challenge of the Swift Boat accusations, and Ohio would have gone his way, and with it the election.
In the end, it's really a question of who comes through the funnel, and that is not always predictable. As I read this wonderful book, I came to the conclusion once again, that yes, you have to go for it, and dedicate all to getting there, but there is no certitude that you are going to make it. Just make sure you follow YOUR PASSION, because no matter where you wind up, a PASSION FILLED LIFE is a life WORTH LIVING. Good luck.
Richard Stoyeck
Home Depot provides a horrible experience.......2006-12-29
If you like wandering around with no service, ringing yourself out at the register, and watching a bunch of orange outfits ignore you, try Home Depot. The bigger the company gets, the more horrible the experience. Try True Hardware.
I'm rich. I started a company. I wrote a book........2004-08-24
What a laugh. Yes you!!! The average American with your wealthy silent investor in your pocket. You too can open a store.
Home Depot has spent a good deal of money trying to improve its image; including writing these books. HD has serious problems with women suing them.If you tell the customer that you are serving them well, and beat them over the head that they are receiving top notch lip service, then eventually some will believe it.
HD has spent millions improving their stores by widening ailses and better lighting. They claim to be industry leaders yet can't seem to shake Lowes from opening stores all around HD stores and even in HD's home Atlanta market.
They are very aggressive and drive their employees to bring shareholder value. They do offer products for less and have had great financial backing.
They also control costs by "Rifting" which means they fire people that start earning enough money that it becomes cheaper to train someone else.
Its one thing to write a book to laud yourself. Why not write about all the dirty tricks you pulled to get there.
Full of Lies.......2003-10-03
Let's face facts: home depot is known for abysmal service and really, really shoddy haphazard installations. They probably spend more on defending lawsuits than on store development. This book makes them look like such wizards, such brilliant and benevelont businessmen, when in fact they have done studies to see what the minimum level of customer service they can get away with is - and then tried to stretch that envelope.
I am sure Ken Lay could write books full of accolades to Enron. It would be just as true, and just as much a waste of time and money to read.
A great story..........2003-09-07
and very well told, which really makes this book a fast read (I had a hard time putting it down).
Provides, IMO, valuable information that will be useful for any business owner. I am glad these guys took the time to share their story, and I hope I get to meet them one day.
What a great way to spend a rainy weekend. You'll love it as it reads like a novel. And you'll never look at Home Depot the same way.
Amazon.com
In the revised and updated edition of Lean Thinking: Banish Waste and Create Wealth in Your Corporation, authors James P. Womack and Daniel T. Jones provide a thoughtful expansion upon their value-based business system based on the Toyota model. Along the way they update their action plan in light of new research and the increasing globalization of manufacturing, and they revisit some of their key case studies (most of which still derive, however, from the automotive, aerospace, and other manufacturing industries).
The core of the lean model remains the same in the new edition. All businesses must define the "value" that they produce as the product that best suits customer needs. The leaders must then identify and clarify the "value stream," the nexus of actions to bring the product through problems solving, information management, and physical transformation tasks. Next, "lean enterprise" lines up suppliers with this value stream. "Flow" traces the product across departments. "Pull" then activates the flow as the business re-orients towards the pull of the customer's needs. Finally, with the company reengineered towards its core value in a flow process, the business re-orients towards "perfection," rooting out all the remaining muda (Japanese for "waste") in the system.
Despite the authors' claims to "actionable principles for creating lasting value in any business during any business conditions," the lean model is not demonstrated with broad applications in the service or retail industries. But those manager's whose needs resonate with those described in the Lean Thinking case studies will find a host of practical guidelines for streamlining their processes and achieving manufacturing efficiencies. --Patrick O'Kelley
Book Description
In their landmark book The Machine That Changed the World, James Womack and Daniel Jones, two of the top industrial analysts in the world, explained how companies can dramatically improve their performance through the "lean production" approach pioneered by Toyota. Lean Thinking extends these ideas to provide a rallying cry for today's corporate leaders.
After a decade of downsizing and reengineering, most companies in North America, Europe, and Japan are still stuck, searching for a formula for sustainable growth and success. The problem, as Womack and Jones explain in Lean Thinking, is that managers have lost sight of value for the customer and how to create it. By focusing on their existing organizations and outdated definitions of value, managers create waste, and the economies of the advanced countries continue to stagnate.
What's needed instead is lean thinking to help managers clearly specify value, to line up all the value-creating activities for a specific product along a value stream, and to make value flow smoothly at the pull of the customer in pursuit of perfection. The first part of the book describes each of these concepts and makes them come alive with striking examples.
As Lean Thinking clearly demonstrates, these simple ideas can breathe new life into any company in any industry, routinely doubling both productivity and sales while stabilizing employment. But most managers will need guidance on how to make the lean leap in their firm. Part II provides a step-by-step action plan, based on in-depth studies of fifty lean companies in a wide range of industries across the world -- including Pratt & Whitney, Porsche, and Toyota.
Even those readers who believe they have embraced lean thinking will discover in Part III that another dramatic leap is possible by creating a lean enterprise for each of their product families that tightly links all value-creating activities from concept to product launch, from order to delivery, and from raw materials into the arms of the consumer. This new concept takes the best features from the American, German, and Japanese industrial traditions and recombines them in a way that can be applied to every economic activity, from long-distance travel to construction to health care.
Lean Thinking does not provide a new management "program" for the one-minute manager. Instead, it offers a new way of thinking, being, and doing for the serious manager -- one that will change the world.
Customer Reviews:
Interesting book but very dull........2007-08-27
I found this book to be interesting, but I hard trouble finishing it because the writing was so boring. Despite the dullness the book did get me thinking of product in a different way.
Womack and Jones, very engaging........2007-08-26
Lean Thinking- A very well written account of a long study of the theory of customer driven value thinking. The elimination of waste in accomplishing customer driven trade is the main goal of this theory. The book has been tuned over a series of revisions, so it is well polished. While I am no expert on the topic, I can at least attest to the fact that the volume is well written and referenced. Their views are spread over a period of many years, giving them the benefit of tracking case study performance over the long term. Companies both large and small have been studied and tracked to determine the benefits of these theories.
Worth Every Penny.......2007-07-30
A most readable book on an important subject of productivity. The comment on outsourcing is insightful and the emphasis on human element is so crucial. Productivity is not all about bigger and better machines but about management and employee been willing to take risks to think out of a box. Mr. Womack has made a significant contribution to the on-going dicussion of productivity in a globalized world.
My husband loved it.......2007-04-10
My husband loved this book so much that this was actually purchased as a gift for another man in his office.
Excellent Book with Detailed Lean Conversion Techniques .......2007-02-01
This book provides many case studies of companies outside of the auto industry that converted to lean production. It details the personnel changes they had to make, changes in factory layout, differences in the supply chain and much more. Where "The Machine that Changed the World" was a primer to lean production, "Lean Thinking" is more of a how-to book. Together, they make a great pair and provide a fairly in-depth view of the subject. As in, "The Machine that Changed the World", there is plenty of hard data to back up the claims that these companies improved after switching to lean thinking.
I am a college student majoring in mechanical engineering and read this book and "The Machine that Changed the World" to get a broad understanding of lean production. The two books did just that and even gave me many ideas on how to convert a student organization I am involved with (SAE) to more of a lean organization. As much as possible anyway.
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